Third volume of the American Gigolo series, the one compiled and mixed by Princess Superstar is the best so far. I’m telling this because she took the best electro tunes of the label and she mixed everything creating an hour of non stop party. She also did a sort of mash-up on some tracks by blending: Vitalic "You Prefer Cocaine" with M.I.A.’s "Bucky Done Gun", Miss Kittin & The Hacker "1982" with Sebastien San’s "Interplanetary [Lightspeed Mix]", The Presets "Steamworks [Princess Superstar Remix]" with Crooklyn Clan’s "Yes We Can", The Diskokaines "Rock A Boogie [Arr Rmx Live In Nyc]" with The Model’s "You Are Always On My Mind", Fischerspooner "We Need A War [Dj Hell Berlin Mix]" with Traxx Presents The Dirty Criminals’ "Mtt Inversion", Diddy & Felix The Housecat "Jack U Vs I’ll House You [Dj Hell Mix]" with Hell & Richard Bartz’s "1234" and Bodzin & Huntemann "Black Ice" with Hell & Anthony Rother’s "German Body Machine". Along with these tracks your can find fade ins and fade outs that are mixed with Hell "Let No Man Jack [Abe Duque Remix]", Mu "Let’s Get Sick", Digitaria "Teen Years", Djs Are Not Rockstars "European Accent" (one of her projects) and so on. On this album you won’t find any rip off or any moment where you’ll stop to dance. Twenty tracks to discover (some of them are exclusive) and to re-discover into a renewed version thanks to Princess Superstar!

This could be the real clash of the titans of dark ambient and you just need a sight to their individual discography and it will tell you more than any word I can write. Even if both Marutti (Amon/Never Known, headchief of Afe records) and Giuseppe Verticchio (Nimh) in the recent past have put out many material that’s not strictly dark ambient, here they do what you probably can expect from such an odd pair. Hence, "Sator" begins with a "concrete" monumental drone that scares the shit out of the listener as to say ambient can still be heavy as fuck. The matter of the release but also the sound choice of this collaboration reminded me of an old Grinzich/Nehil joint ventures but way more reverberated and dark. The funny thing is that somehow I got the impression Nimh as been "Amonized", I can’t say that firmly but sure while listening I’ve found many traces of Marutti’s "heavy" hand on the crime scene. Probably that’s just a suggestion since what I can guess they simply mixed the most obscure and intimist aspect of their individual personalities finding a common ground they could share for this opus. There’s an abundance of delays/reverbs and a copious use of keyboards even if in some passages they left them still intelligible but not without burying it under a heap of thick low noises/echoes leading in the mid of the dark pool. While the first three tracks of this output present a framework mainly based on delayed-noises, the dronical-essence rears it’s ugly head just with the fourth "movement" of this cd and it lately disappears in a "freaky-post-krautian-Schultzesque" sad "sauce" (yes, dark freaks have a safe ground to walk upon). With the closing chapter of this book arrives my favorite one: dark ambient in full effect that all of a sudden fades into a quiet mechanical drone and into a rarefied paste made out of bells? voices?... anyway, it will blows you brain and resistance out for sure. A first class recording/package complete this good release, the only things I ask myself is what if it would have been a bit shorter, but you know many artists doing this kind of things want to test the guts and the balls of their listeners, "will you dare to take the whole trip?". If you’re into dar ambient at the edge with some post industrial landscape here’s a journey you can definitely take.

With MIELE DAL SALICE Dismal bring to their fans a new album, the fourth, that sees their music reaching new targets. The ten songs of the album, thanks to the fairy vocals of Rossana Landi, their new singer and thanks to the good orchestration and to the classical arrangements are always suspended between a dreamy atmosphere and a certain energetic gothic metal (check the guitar riffs that here and there hit the surface). By listening to the album I feel it as a sort of concept album, thanks also to a recurrent musical theme that I found a couple of times. The band chose also to enrich their arrangements by including samples that make the album sound like a musical score: here and there you can hear wood noises, water, etc. Principally driven by piano compositions the album floats between romantic and dark themes having always a certain dramatic/teatrical touch that will please the lovers of the genre. P.s. The CD contains also the video clip of "Lana".

Comtron are a duo coming from the Netherlands and as many people who live there, they have eletro funk music in their D.N.A. It's a matter of fact and labels such as Clone or Creme Organization are the evidence. Formed four years ago, the duo, present themselves as a musical branch of the Comtron Group. From their presentation we can read: "The Amsterdam based Comtron Group was setup four years ago to warn people about the sinister undertones of the corporate world. The group attach their message to their unique strain of punch driven, electric funk. Rumor has it that these industrious men made their fortune trading new media stock that while making them rich, left them disillusioned and feeling exploited by the evil system they found themselves caught in". Following this scenario, the duo title each track with something dealing with marketing and bad business side effects. So, we can find titles of the likes of "Greed & finance", "Material world", "Profit", "Evil machine", "Bad business", "Heart of China", etc. Musically the duo produce the finest electro around and you'll surprise yourself bouncing your head by listening to their music. Their robotized vocals will intrigue you as well as their subtle melodies will stick themselves into your head. The first CD contains sixteen tracks of pure energy and the second one has a forty five minutes mix of music that will please each dj. Beware the bad business... Comtron are here to stay! P.s. Check their tracks on their myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/comtronmusic.

Member of synthpop band Spray, Ricardo Autobahn is a writer/composer for soundtracks, adverts, corporate events and TV shows.He co-wrote the UK's 2006 Eurovision entry, the top 10 hit 'Teenage Life' with Daz Sampson. His first solo album INTERROBANG is released through ITunes (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=213695548&s=143444) but it's also available as CD-r writing directly to him. The album presents particular instrumental tracks (only few have vocals). Some of them remember me 70's / early 80's tracks (the first one that pop up into my mind is "Popcorn" by Il Guardiano Del Faro, that was a big hit here in Italy in 1972) a la Vangelis. Ricardo added some dance flavor to some of them (check "Bouncing through life" or "Maniac in a saab") while others are relaxing semi ambient tracks (like the opening "Grand pacific skies", "Radiophonic man" or "Dreamy in the afternoon"). The surprise arrives with "Find me a lover", a dance tune based on distorted guitar: a cool track but a bit too commercial for my taste. I prefer the electro influences of "Beep beep" or the vocal inserts on "Sci-fi religions". INTERROBANG is a real retro album where you can find influences of 70's electro tunes as well as 80s' melodies (check "Amaurote", one of the few sung songs, which is a good romantic electronic tune) with a bit of 90's house influences on the closing "Interrobang". I may say that I prefer Spay sound but Ricardo did an album that someway is unique.